Letter-case.



No. 852,304. PATENTED APR. 30, 1907. W. A. TILLEY.

LETTER CASE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 6, 1906.

3 SHBET8-SHEET 1. 1T .1. 1.2

PATENTBD APR. 30, 1907.

w. A. TILLEY. LETTER CASE APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5, 1906.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

PATENTED APR. 30, 1907.

W. A. TILLEY.

LETTER CASE APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5, '1900.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WWI/ 1. $1 z) Wmssea,

?. '73 FQZC WILLIAM A. TILLEY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

LETTER-CASE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April- 30, 19

Application filed November 5, 1906. Serial No. 342,059.

.T0 at? whom, zit may concern/' Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. TILLEY, acitizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the countyof San Francisco and State of California, and temporarily residing atDecatur, in the county of Macon and State of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Letter- Cases, of Whichthefollowing is a specification.

g This invention relates to the subject of letter c ases, being moreparticularly, although not exclusively, adapted for postal cars of thattype in which the mail is distributed en route, and has reference moreparticularly to improvements in the lettercases-in which the mail isdistributed for subsequent delivery at various points along the line andbeyond, or on connecting lines.

- The "modern trend in railway practice toward a replacement of thepresent wooden cars for steel-cars, in passenger and mail service, aswell as in freight service, 1s accompanled by a tendency also tosubstitute metal parts for wooden in the furnishings of the cars in sofar as possible, with a view to "rendering the entire equipmentpractically fireproof, and by the substitution of metal [for woodenparts and furnishings minimize. 3

the damage from ordinary wear and tear,

thus adding to the'life of the car and lessening its cost in the longrun.

My present invention is of the latter type;

and consists partly of anew and improved 3 5 construction wherein thinsheet metal ver tical partitions are employed in combination withlabel-holders of a construction designed to stiffen and brace saidpartitions, and partly in a novel construction wherein the rearsupporting strips for the horizontal partitions are designed to besecured to the wall of the car,'thus performing the additional functionof securing the letter-case to such wall.

Figure 1 is a front elevational view, broken out between its ends, of aletter-case emis a vertical cross-sectional view through one of theletterboxes; Flg'. 3 1s a horizontal sectional view on the line 33 ofFig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an interior view of a portion of one side of a postal car,illustrating the sectional arrangement of the letter-case and omitting,for the sake of clearness, the other usual accessories; Fig. 5 is a sideelevational view of a section of the label-holder; Fig.

'6 is a cross sectional view on the line 6-6" of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 isan endview of the spindle on which the label-holders are mounted; Fig. 8 is aplan or face view of a label detached; Fig. 9 illustrates a slightinodilication adapted to beemployed in such cases as do not permanentlyengage a side or other wall of the car; and Fig. 10 is side view of anangle-bar used in one form of the device.

I preferably construct my improved lettercase in a plurality ofindividual duplicate sections disposed along the side walls and acrossthe corners and ends of the car, for convenience in replacing injured ordamaged parts of the case when necessary. Referring, then, to anindividual section, 10 and 11 may represent, respectively, front andrear upright metal strips or corner posts that are connected at theirupper ends by a metal top plate or cover 12, and near their lower endsby front and rear cross-strips 13, thus forming a skeleton frame markingthe outlines or boundaries of the case section.

'4 designates each of a series ofvertical Sht at metal partitions thatextend from front to rear of the case, said partitions preferably attheir upper ends fitting into narrow grooves or mortises. inthe upperand lower cross-members 12 and 13, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The frontedges of said partitions are preferably enlarged and rounded, as byfitting a rounded bead 15 thereon (Fig. 3), which construction stitl'ensthe partitions, but has for its principal purpose or function to preventpossible injury to the hand of the operator in tossing the letters intoor removing them from the boxes.

The bottoms of the boxes, which are preferably downwardly inclinedrearwardly slightly, in accordance with presentpractice, to preventdanger of accidental displacement of mail matter therefrom tln'oughlateral vi- .bration of the sides of the car, are made of crossed wires,as follows. 16 designates each of a series of round rods or bars thatextend between the opposite side walls ol the case ,passing throughapertures in the partitions 14 and supported at their ends in the posts10. 17 (Figs. 2 and 10) designates each of a series of angle-strips thatare secured horizontally to the side wall of the car, as by the screws18, the projecting flanges of such angle strips having at intervalstransverse kerfs 17 to receive and stiffen the rear vertical edges ofthe partitions 14, as clearly shown in Fig. 2; and said projectingflanges 1 S 7 a series of longitudinal wires the wires 19 below thelevel of the rod 16. The ends of.

also have formed therein at intervals apertures 17 The rod-16 isprovided at corresponding intervals with holes 16, through which arepassed wires 19, the lower and rear ends of which are inserted into theaperture 17 a of the angle-strips 17 in the manner clearly shown in Fig.2, and secured therein by a drop of solder, or otherwise. The upper andforward ends of the Wires 19 may be similarly secured'in the holes 16 soas to prevent the wires from pulling I through said holes and' atthe'sametime present a smooth exterior surface.on the rod 16L Overlyingthe wires 19 at right angles thereto anti passingthrough apertures inthe partitions 14 are and 20 hus providing a reticulated form of bottomfor the individual boxes of the case.

The wires 19 may either underlie or overlie the wires 20; but therelative arrangement shown is preferred for the reason that the operatorin distributing letters is apt to throw. them upwardly against the topwall of the box, and by striking the wires 19 which extend in thedirection in which the latter is in-{ serted, no obstruction orimpediment is'of-' fered to the latter. Referring now to theimprovement-in label-holders, which in combination with the thin metalpartitions 14 constitutes the leading'and most important feature of myinvention, 21 designates an integral or one-piecespindle having alongitudinal groove 21*, which spindle is rotatably journaled in andbetween the front corner posts 10 and intermediate partitions 14 infront of and slightly the'spindle are journaled in round holes in thecornerposts, and are adapted to be engaged by set-screws 22 to hold thespindle.

and label-holders non-rotatable at any desired angle. Slidably mountedon the spindle between adjacent side walls or partitions 14 of the boxesare the label-holders proper, these latter comprising suitable lengthsof longitudinally bored square metal'bars 23 Y The bore .of each bar isprovided with an internal feather or spline 23 adapted to slidinglyengage the groove 21 of the spindle and thus prevent relative rotationbetween saidparts. Slideways are formed on the four outer sides 'orfaces of the bar 23 to accommodate and support the label 24, whichslidewaysmay be conveniently formed'by' integral double flanges 25formed on the'four corners of the bar, the adjacent flanges on 1 twoadjacent corners together providing with the underlying face of the bara slidewayin which the label-strip 24 is readily inserted. It will beobserved that the flanges 25 at one end terminate somewhat short of theadj acent end of the label-holder, which facilitates the insertion andwithdrawal of the labels.

v of the four series of labels, as required by the route and directionof movement of the car and the destination of the mail beingdistributed,

the turning up of the set-screw securing the label-holders rigidly inany fixed position against possible accidental turning or dis, placementunder vibration of the car or contact with the heavy mail matter or thehand of the distributer. For example, when the mail for one State hasbeen distributed, and

removed from the case and disposed of in the mail pouches, the labelsare turned which brings into view the case correctly labeled for thedistribution of letters'for another State, and so onf The printed slideswill preferably be printed on both sides; then if need be the case canbe used for eight different distributions by the simple operation ofdrawing aout the printed slides from labs holders, reversing them andsliding 1am back in the, holders. The universal angailar adjustabilityof "the label-holders affords an advantage in that the higher and lowerrows can be turned so as to render the distributers line of visionsubstantially normal thereto. It will be observed that the squared endsof the label-holders abut against and thus act as lateral braces orsupports to. the

thinmetal partition sheets to keep them from bending or warping.

' Vhere the letter-cases are disposed permanently against the side wallsof the car, the described construction involving the angle-strips 17 ishighly desirable, since said strips not only afford the support for therear ends of thebottoms of the letter-boxes, but also in effect securethe casein position against the Wall; Where the cases-are not thusadapted to be secured to the wall of the car, as in the. instance ofcases disposed across the corners or in front of door-ways, theangle-strips 17 are substituted, in respect to their function ofsupportingthe bottoms of the boxes, by rear rods 16 (Fig. 9) similar tothe front rods 16. This construction makes the bottom of the boxeswholly self-contained within the case.

The letter-case along each side wall of the car is preferably erected-ina plurality ofsections which correspond in construction to thesectionhereinabove described. This arrangement is clearly shown in F ig 4,wherein A may designate the floor, B the side wall of the car, and O, D,E, F andG, individual sections ofa letter-case disposed side by side. Itwill be evident that in case of injury to the car resulting in injury ordestruction to one or more sections of the lettercase, such section orsections can be readily removed and replaced by new or repaired sectionswithout involving the removal of such sections'as ar'e'uninjnred.

' From the foregoing it will be observed that my invention provides avery compact letter-case, principaily by reason of the fast The passingof the wires and steel rods orming the bottoms of the boxes through saidartitions and the use of the angle-strips as escribed, andthe passinofthe steel spindle throu h all the metals eets witha metal label-holdermounted thereon between each sheet, the ends of the holders abutting onthe sheets, keeps them absolutely true and rigid, and produces aconstruction wherein the bot toms and side walls mutually reinforce andstifl'en each other. The entire structure is thoroughly braced and tiedtogether largely by reason of the fact that the longitudinally extendingparts are carried through the vertical transverse walls and partitions,thus enabling material .of comparatively light weight and thinness to beemployed consist-' ently with a high degree of rigidity and strength inthe structure as a whole.

The invention is designed primarily for I the steel spindle on which theholders are mounted, thus bringing to view a ditlerent set of printedlabels. Also, when changes are made, the old label can be quicklywithdrawn and a new one slipped in, or, when the labels from constantuse become dirty or indistinct, they can be replaced with fresh ones bysimply sliding out the old ones and sliding in the new, an operationwhich requires but a second. The above points are particularlyapplicable to the railway postal cars because changes in the letter-easeare con-' stantly going on, and, owingto the smoke and dirt in mailcars, fresh labels are frequently in demand to replace those that havebecome worn and indistinct.

I claim:

" 1. In a letter-case, the combination with upright sheet-metalpartitions forming the side walls of the boxes, of a transverselyapertured front bar passed through said partitions, a transverselydisposed rear anglestrip parallel therewith provided with means wherebyit may be secured to the wall against which the case is placed, saidanglestr'ip also having holes registering with the apertures of saidfront bar and cross kerfs adapted to receive the rear edges of saidpartitions, wires disposed between and parallel with said front bar andrear strip and passed througlrsaid partitions, and other wires crossingsaid first-named wires and at one end secured in the apertures of saidfront bar and at the other end secured in the holes of said rearangle-strip, substantially as described.

2. In a letter case for postal cars, the combination with uprightsheet-metal partitions formingthe side walls of the boxes, of a spindlerotatably mounted in said partitions substantially in the plane of thefront openings of the boxes}; and a series of label-holders non-retatably secured on said spindle, the ends of said label-holders abuttingsquarely against said iartitions and serving to stitl'en and brace thelatter, substantially as described.

3. In aletter case for postal cars, the combination with uprightsheet-metal partitions forming the side walls of the boxes, of a spindlerotatably mounted in said partitions substantially in the plane of thefront open ings of the boxes, and a series of label-holders polygonal incross-section non-rctatably secured on said spindle and at their endssquarely abutting against, said partitions, each of said label-holdorshaving flanges on its corners forming slideways for the labels, saidflanges terminating short of one end of the label-holder to facilitatethe insertior. and withdrawal of the labels, substantially as described.

4. In a lettercaso, the combination with a plurality (if verticalpartitions forming the side walls of the boxes, of a plurality ofhorizontal angle-strips adapted to be secured to the wall against whichthe case is placed, said angle-strips having transverse kcrfs receivingthe rear edges of said vertical partitions, substantially as described.i

5. In a letter-case, the combination with vertical sheet metalpartitions forming the side walls of the boxes, and wires disposedlongitudinally of the boxes and forming elements of the top and bottomwalls thereof, of

a series of horizontal angle-strips adapted to be secured to the wallagainst.- \\'l1l("ll the case is placed, said angle-strips havingtransverse

